Lifeline
by Elerrina Star
Summary: "By his own admission, the majority of Mike Ross's life choices hadn't been great." Just a short character study. No slash.


**A/N: Hi! Ok, so first I just want to say that I LOVE THIS SHOW. Seriously. I'm like, completely obsessed with it. Harvey and Mike are AMAZING. And hott. Don't forget the hott. **

**Second, this is my first (posted) attempt at a **_**Suits**_** fanfiction and to be honest… I'm really, **_**really**_** nervous about it. It's just a little snippet that came to me after watching an interview with the brilliant Patrick J. Adams about his character Mike and I free wrote it without any planning immediately after the video ended. So if it sucks don't hate me, but please tell me nicely with a review once you've finished? **

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_**Suits**_**. If I did Harvey would wear casual black to work in every episode and be shirtless a lot more often.**

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><p>By his own admission, the majority of Mike Ross's life choices hadn't been great.<p>

Between the weed and getting kicked out of college he'd been pretty well screwed before he turned twenty-five. He made a sort-of career helping lazy people cheat on their LSATs, but the money he got was never enough to really live on; between paying for his grandma's housing bills and other expenses there were days when Mike wouldn't even get to eat because he didn't have the money left to buy himself a meal.

But at least he didn't have to put himself out there. He didn't have to take risks or worry about failing or be concerned over the fact that he might disappoint someone. It was safer to live life on the third floor instead of in the penthouse, because if he fell from where he was now at least he might survive.

And it didn't really matter that he wasn't happy, did it? Did it matter that his life felt completely empty and that at night he'd have bad dreams about the fact that someday he'd die and no one would care because really, who was he anyway?

Mike was drowning in a sea of his own mistakes, and the sad part was, he was too afraid of failing to try and pull himself to safety.

Then Harvey Specter came along, and he threw Mike a lifeline. He didn't immediately pull Mike out of the proverbial waters and he didn't snap his fingers and suddenly make Mike's life perfect, but he _did_ give Mike a chance to make himself better.

And sure, there were days when Mike's fears and lack of confidence came back to haunt him. Days when he felt his grasp on the chance Harvey had given him slipping away because he'd made a mistake or didn't know how to do something that everyone else around him found simple.

There were also days – and these came often – that Harvey himself would make life so frustrating that Mike seriously considered letting go of that metaphorical life preserver that was keeping him afloat and sinking back into the empty life he'd had before, because it had to have been easier than dealing with all of this.

But then Mike would do something good, like finish all the files he'd been given a good two hours before anyone else would have. Or notice something in a contract that everyone else had missed. Or work all night to find that one discrepancy in a witness's story so Harvey could exploit it and slam them in court for lying the next day.

And then sometimes Harvey would give his own unique brand of approval-by-insult and the young associate would secretly bask in the fact that he'd made his boss proud.

Eventually Mike would realize that yeah, Harvey pushed him and insulted him and was generally more willing to point out Mike's failures than he was to acknowledge his victories. But Harvey was also always there to get him out of trouble when he really screwed up and to give him advice when Mike was so out of his depth that he felt like he was drowning all over again. Because even though he didn't show it very often, Harvey _did_ care about Mike and knew he had the potential to be more than he was now.

And it was the fact more than anything else that kept Mike's grip firmly latched onto this new chance at life. Because Harvey was counting on him, and there was nothing Mike hated more than letting Harvey down.

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><p><strong>AN/2: Please review and tell me what you thought? **


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